


It Takes Two

by mogirl97



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Crossfit AU, F/M, Fluff, a little bit of smut, lots of fluff, sara and oliver are BFFs, workout partners
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-13
Updated: 2017-08-13
Packaged: 2018-12-14 17:47:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11788236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mogirl97/pseuds/mogirl97
Summary: When Oliver Queen finds himself short of a partner for his upcoming Crossfit competition, he resigns himself to having to drop out... until he walks in on a blonde stranger in the gym and has a change of heart (in more ways than one)





	It Takes Two

**Author's Note:**

  * For [missdarcys](https://archiveofourown.org/users/missdarcys/gifts).



> I literally promised Manon I would write this for her MONTHS ago but I kept having to put it on the back burner to focus on my multi-chapter fics. This weekend though I got a burst of motivation to finish this AU that was inspired by a partner Crossfit competition that I worked at last semester (and Stephen and Emily's badass workout videos). Enjoy!!

**_Monday Morning // 19 Days Until the Hub City Classic_ **

  1. 9\. 10.



Sweat dripped off his forehead as he counted off his pull-up reps silently to himself.

  1. 12\. 13—



He slipped down from the bar in surprise when she walked into his eyeline. Ripping off his headphones, he pointed to her leg.

“ _What_ is that?”

Sara shifted on her crutches, “ _That,_ is a cast.”

He grunted, “I’m aware. Why are you wearing it?”

“Well… I sort of fractured my fibula when I was on that rock climbing trip this weekend.”

He winced, “Ouch. Why didn’t you call me? I would’ve come to the hospital.”

“I know, I know. But everything happened so fast and I was pretty out of it. One moment I was scaling a rock face and then the next thing I know I’m lying flat on my back in a hospital bed. I wasn’t there for very long and I figured I’d find you this morning. Your whereabouts are predictable.”

Moving over to the rowing machine, he started the next part of his workout. “This isn’t going to affect us competing, right?”

She gave him an incredulous look. “Oliver. I know that science is not exactly your strong suit, but you should still know that fractured bones take a long time to heal. The competition is in less than three weeks. The doctor said I’ll be in the cast for several weeks and then I’ll have to do physical therapy to even walk normally on it again, let alone do Crossfit. I’m really sorry Oliver. I know the Hub City Classic is one of your favorites.”

He stopped rowing as her words sunk in and his heart sunk. It _was_ one of his favorites, and he had been looking forward to it for weeks now. Pushing himself to his limits in his workouts to prepare. But with his partner out of commission, he couldn’t exactly compete in a _partner_ Crossfit competition. 

“It’s okay. It’s fine. Some time off from competing might not be so bad. I mean, I’ll probably still go and watch.” He didn’t want her to feel guilty for something that wasn’t her fault, but he wasn’t sure he was doing a good job of masking his disappointment.

She frowned. They had been friends for a long time and he knew she could see straight through him.

“I should’ve been more careful. I knew we had this competition coming up and yet—“

“Hey,” he interrupted her. “You don’t have to apologize. Just uh, let me know if you need help carrying stuff around campus or something.”

Her frown turned upwards into a smile, “I think Nyssa’s got that covered, but thank you. I have to go to my first class now so I’ll umm—let you get back to your workout and I’ll see you later?”

He nodded, “Of course. And you’re going to let me sign your cast first so I can take up an obnoxious amount of space. You’re going to have ‘Oliver Queen is sexy’ in huge letters down your shin for weeks.”

She laughed as she started to turn around to hobble away from him, “Yeah, no. I’m not letting you and a Sharpie anywhere near me.”

“I don’t know… It doesn’t look like you can move fast enough to avoid me,” he teased.

“If I could let go of one of these crutches without toppling over, I would be giving you the middle finger right now. You’re just going to have to imagine it,” she responded as she continued slowly making her way to the exit of the gym and he shook his head in amusement.

Starting up his rowing again, he attempted to get back into the zone he had been in before, but his motivation had fizzled out with the news she had dropped on him. After a few minutes, he threw in the towel and headed back to his dorm room to get ready for his first class of the day.

* * *

That evening Oliver was in the library working on a paper when he spotted Sara coming towards him. She had a big smile on her face and he could tell she was trying to get over to him as quickly as she could on her crutches. Nyssa followed behind her with her backpack.

“Hey, I think you’re getting a little better on those already,” he commented when she arrived at the table he was working at.

“Thank you.” She took a second to catch her breath before continuing. “So, I have good news for you.”

He raised an eyebrow, “Oh?”

“Yeah.” She eased down into the chair across from him with a little help from Nyssa. “I felt really bad when I left the gym this morning, because I could see how disappointed you were about having to pull out of the Classic.”

“Sara, I told you it’s fine—“

Holding up a hand, she interrupted him, “It _is_ fine. Because I found you someone to take my place. You can still compete.”

He looked at her skeptically, “I’m not sure anyone can just take your place.”

“Well of course not.” She tapped her cast, “But since I’m not an option…”

He sighed and decided he would humor her because she was trying to be helpful, even if he had no desire to compete with a new partner. “Who is it?”  

“My chem lab partner, Felicity.”

His brow furrowed, “Who?”

“I’m sure you’ve seen her around campus before. Blonde hair, always in a ponytail. Glasses. Super cute.”

That could be a description of any number of girls at Starling U.

“Okay, but has she ever done Crossfit before?”

“Well… no.” As he was opening his mouth to reply, she hastily added, “But she’s really strong. And I think if she trained with you until the competition, she would be ready. You might not be as much of a contender as we normally are, but you can still go and have fun.”

Nothing about competing with a total stranger, who had never even done Crossfit before, sounded fun to him. He and Sara had won the Hub City Classic last year, he didn’t want to go and not even have a shot at making the podium. After all the work he had been putting in the past few weeks, that would be a disappointing embarrassment.

He shook his head, “No. I appreciate you trying to help me out, but I don’t this is going to work. You can tell her I’m sorry, but I’m not interested in a new partner.”

“Oh, I don’t think an apology will really be necessary, since she said no too. I was just hoping you would be able to use some of that Queen charm and talk her into it.” She shrugged, “But I understand if you don’t want to.”

He knew she was trying to egg him on since he rarely backed down from a challenge, but his mind was already firmly made up.

“I don’t.”

“Fine. Your loss.” She remarked and Nyssa nodded in agreement.

* * *

 

When he finally finished his paper, he felt restless from sitting for so long and decided to try to get in a better workout than he had managed that morning.

He didn’t usually go to the gym late at night, normally preferring to get his workouts done right away in the morning, but when he walked in he liked how quiet and peaceful it was since it was almost completely empty. The lights were dimmed and it felt like he had the place to himself.

Making his way past the row of cardio machines, where a few people were running on the treadmills, and up to the training loft, he paused at the top of the stairs when he realized he didn’t have this particular space to himself. 

There was someone working out on the TRX bands and she… his eyes widened a little bit and he involuntarily licked his lips… she was hot. Her headphones were on, and he was still far enough away from her that he didn’t think she had noticed his arrival, so he allowed himself a moment to stare. She was wearing a Starling U t-shirt that had been cropped slightly to reveal a toned stomach, and tight, black leggings that showed off powerful looking legs. He found himself mesmerized by her movements.  

_Who is she?_

Clearly, he had been missing out by not coming to the gym at night.  

Suddenly, she shifted positions and caught sight of him, her eyes widening in surprise. He scrambled awkwardly to make it look like he hadn’t been standing there ogling her, even though he was pretty sure it hadn’t escaped her notice.

Taking her headphones off, she addressed him, “I’m not used to there being other people here at this hour.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to barge in on you.”

“No, no, it’s fine. Obviously you’re free to be here, and I’m wrapping things up anyway.” She settled down onto the floor and started to stretch.

Now that he had stepped a little bit closer to her, he could see the details of her face. Like the blonde, curly pieces of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail and formed a frizzy halo around her flushed face. Her sparkling blue eyes. The freckles that dotted across her nose.  

He knew for certain that he had never met her before, and yet there was something familiar about her…

_“Blonde hair, always in a ponytail. Super cute.” “She’s really strong.”_

Oh.

Shit.

“Felicity?” he inquired. A part of him hoped it was her and another part of him hoped she would glance up at him and be like… _“Uh, my name’s Karen you weirdo,” so_ he wouldn’t have to admit to Sara that it _was_ his loss for dismissing her as a potential new partner. Although maybe there was still a chance he could convince her…

But he didn’t want to do that.

Except now he was thinking that he sort of did.

“Yeah.” She looked up at him and tilted her head, sinking her teeth into her full bottom lip and assessing him. “Do I know you?”

It took him a second to respond because he had been too busy staring at her mouth to register that a question had come out of it. “Uh no. I mean, sort of. I’m Oliver Queen, Sara Lance’s friend.”

Recognition lit up her face, “Oh. Right. She was talking about you at lunch today.”

“I know.”

“She said you needed a new partner for your competition or whatever.”

“She said you weren’t interested.”

Her eyes flicked up and down his body. “I’m reconsidering.”

Joining her on the floor, he raised an eyebrow and tried (and failed) to contain a smirk, “Oh?”

She looked down at her hands that she had clasped together and he could see her cheeks turn pinker than they already were from her workout. “I said no for two reasons. One, I don’t know you. I mean you’re friends with Sara, and she’s nice, so you can’t be a total jerk, but still.”

Fair enough. He hadn’t been interested in teaming up with a complete stranger either. He _still_ wasn’t entirely sure that he wanted to team up with a complete stranger.

“And the second reason?”

“I’ve never done Crossfit before, I’m not sure I would make a very good partner.” She brought her eyes back up to meet his and he could see the uncertainty there. Instantly, he made up his mind about what he wanted to do.

“I disagree. Not counting today since it’s basically over, there’s eighteen days until the competition. You seem pretty fit, Sara wouldn’t have mentioned this to you if she didn’t think you were, so that’s enough time to get you acclimated to the kinds of workouts we’ll have to do there. It’ll be hard work, we’ll have to have some long training sessions together, at least two hours in the morning and two hours at night, but that’ll give us plenty of time to not be strangers when it’s time to compete. Besides, the point is to have fun. There’s lots of people who sign up for these open entry competitions that have no experience with Crossfit. It’s not a big deal if we don’t do that well.” That wasn’t the tune he had been singing earlier that day, but he realized now that he was willing to take some of the pressure off, just this once, if it made it easier for her to say yes.

She shook her head, “Oh no. I’m really competitive. If I agree to do this, I want to try to win.”

He grinned, “Okay. So does that mean you’re in?”

Looking at him with a thoughtful expression for a few seconds, she finally took a deep breath and nodded, “I’m in.”

**_Tuesday Afternoon // 18 Days Until the Hub City Classic_ **

Felicity winced as she lowered herself down onto her seat and Sara looked over at her in concern, “Are you okay?”

She moaned softly in response and rubbed her aching shoulder, “What did you get me into?”

Sara’s brow was furrowed in confusion. “I… I don’t know?”

“Competing with Oliver? I had my first work-out with him this morning…”

And she had worked her ass off to match his intensity. She hadn’t been lying when she told him she was competitive, and despite the fact that her whole body was in pain and she was questioning her mental sanity a little bit, she had loved training with him. It was different from her usual style, hence the soreness in muscles she didn’t even know she had before today, but it was fun to get out of her comfort zone.

Sara looked surprised, “You did?”

“Well yeah. I mean there’s not that many days until the competition, we had to get started right away.”

“I thought you didn’t want to do it though.”

She shrugged, “I know, but he managed to change my mind.”

For some reason Sara looked amused. “Oh he did?”

“Yeah.” She dropped her voice to a whisper, “You should have mentioned before that he’s built like some sort of Greek god.”

Sara laughed, “I didn’t think that was a relevant detail.”

She pushed her glasses up, “I mean it’s not. It totally didn’t affect my decision. At all. I just… realized it’s not like me to back down from a challenge.”

“That’s why I thought you’d be the right person to take my place. Oliver can be… intense. But I knew you could handle him.” Sara patted her forearm, “Make sure you ice your muscles when you get back from your second workout later, and take some ibuprofen, or tomorrow is going to be rough.”

She nodded in appreciation for the tip, “I will definitely do that.”

“And…. if you’re still in pain, Oliver gives amazing back rubs.” Sara winked, “Just saying.”

“Oh. Umm…” She blushed at the thoughts that went through her mind. There had been a lot of touching during their session that morning, in the form of adjustments and the like. While she knew he was being completely platonic in his intentions, it had still had sent heat coursing through her every time his hands had made contact with her body. Crossing her legs, she tried to shake away the image of them in her room, on her bed, while he eased the tension in her muscles with those strong hands before doing… other things. He had asked her to be his partner, not his girlfriend, and she couldn’t let herself get distracted from her goal of helping him get on the podium at the Classic just because she had developed a crush. “I don’t think that will be necessary. Probably best to stick with the ice.”

* * *

“You’re in a good mood,” Sara commented when he opened the door to his dorm room and she barged in, moving at a fairly impressive clip now with her crutches. 

Catching his reflection in the mirror on the wall he saw that there was a stupid grin on his face. He had been in the process of planning out the workout for he and Felicity to do that evening, and he was already looking forward to it. Their training session that morning had exceeded his expectations, and he was actually feeling good about their chances at the Classic. At the very least, he was getting the chance to make a new friend, as her company was rather enjoyable. He felt a little guilty though, telling Sara that the reason for his good mood was the person who was essentially her replacement, even if she had been the one who had been trying to pair them up in the first place. “I uhh—had a good workout this morning. Endorphins.”

“Uh huh. I heard all about it.” She plunked down onto his bed and sat her crutches on the floor before stretching out. “From Felicity. Which was a surprise, since last I heard you weren’t interested in a new work-out buddy,” she teased. 

He shrugged, “I changed my mind.”

“I’m glad. I’ll try not to be too offended if you decide you like her better than me.” She handed him a Sharpie and stuck out her leg. A few people had already signed or drawn on her cast, he noticed _Felicity Smoak_ scrawled in pink marker and accompanied by a few hearts bubbling out of science beakers near her knee, but she had left a large section on her shin blank. “Have at it.”

Resisting the temptation to inscribe the message he had threatened her with the day before, he instead stuck to writing his name in big block letters.

**_Wednesday Morning // 17 Days Until the Hub City Classic_ **

When he got to the gym, he found Felicity waiting for him in shorts and a cropped t-shirt with a sheen of sweat already across her skin, making it glow. The first thing that came to his mind was definitely not something he should be thinking about unless he wanted it to be physically apparent, because gym shorts were terrible at keeping secrets. As he approached her, he forced himself to picture the most un-sexy things he could think of to get things under control. 

“I ran here,” she explained casually when he had gotten closer.

“Are you trying to show me up?”

A smirk tugged at her lips, “Maybe. But actually, I don’t have a car.”

“I can always pick you up,” he offered as he started to set out the equipment they would need for their workout.

“Thanks, but it’s not a big deal.” She waved a hand dismissively. “I live in Maple Hall, so it’s barely even a mile away, and now I’m all warmed up.”

“Okay. But if you change your mind, or it’s raining someday, don’t hesitate to cash in on that ride. I live in Oak, so you’re on my way.”

She nodded, “Will do.” Eyeing the notebook in his hand, she asked, “So… what’s on the menu this morning?”

“How are your muscles feeling?”

“I’m fine,” she replied with a shrug, but he didn’t miss the tiny wince at the movement.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, Oliver. I’m sure. I’m a little tight in my right shoulder, but that’ll work itself out once we get started.”

Taking a step closer to her, he dropped his notebook to the ground and rested a hand gently on her shoulder. When she didn’t shy away, he applied some more pressure and found the spot where her muscle was holding tension. A soft moan escaped her as he dug in and she immediately jerked away, her cheeks flushed in embarrassment that he didn’t want her to feel.

She swallowed, not quite meeting his eyes as she spoke, “We should get started.”

Clearing his throat, he nodded in agreement, “Yeah. Let’s you on an assault bike.”

By the time they made it to the end of their workout, any awkwardness had dissipated and they were back to their comfortable bantering.

“I’m sorry, a what?” Her eyebrow was arched as she eyed the pull-up bar.

“Toes to bar. The organizers in Hub City love these. Sara and I had to do them last year and, according to the website, they’ve been included in one of the workouts for the past six years. They’re guaranteed to show up again this year.” He jumped up to grab a hold of the bar to demonstrate a few reps of the movement, swinging back to gain momentum before lifting his legs to tap his toes to the bar, and then dismounted, adding, “But don’t worry if you can’t get it, because the great thing about it being a team effort is that I can do all of them if necessary.”

“Oh no. I’m going to crush these toes to bars.” Lifting her arms up, she wiggled her fingers. “Give me a boost Queen.”

Walking up behind her, he wrapped his hands around her waist securely, trying not to notice the way her breath hitched when his thumb grazed bare skin along her lower back, and lifted her up to grab onto the bar.

She swung a few times before attempting to lift her legs and he grinned proudly when her toes hit the bar.

Coming to stand underneath her again, he crossed his arms over his chest. “Now the question is, can you do multiple in a row after you’re already exhausted from whatever torture they’re going to come up with for us to do?”

“Why do you willingly participate in something that you consider torture?” she asked, her feet nudging his crossed arms as she dangled from the bar. Reaching up, he caught her as she dropped down and he quickly sat her on the floor before he got any ideas. Or more accurately, acted on the ideas that he definitely had gotten. His track record with women wasn’t exactly stellar and there wasn’t enough time for him to find another new partner if he went and did something stupid to wreck things with her. Not to mention that a fractured leg wouldn’t stop Sara from beating his ass if he hurt her friend.  

Gathering his thoughts, he began to answer her question, “Because I’m good at it. I don’t mean that in a prideful way—“ She gave him a look and he consented, “Okay, maybe a little bit. It’s just that, I’m expected to do a lot of things for my family, for our company, when I graduate that I know I’m… I’m not cut out for. And a business degree won’t change that. But with this, yeah, it’s hard and some days it feels like torture, but it’s my choice to do this. It’s given me something that I can actually succeed at when everything else leaves me frustrated, feeling like a failure.”

He had balled his hands into fists at his sides while he spoke and she reached out to silently unravel his tight grip and intertwine her fingers with his. Their faces were suddenly close enough that he could count every freckle that dotted her nose and cheeks and he could hear her breathing heavily.

What might have happened had they not been interrupted by someone walking over and asking if he could use their plyo-box, effectively breaking the spell that had made them feel for a moment like the only two people in the gym, would remain a mystery.

Dropping his hands, she backed away, “I uhh—I should get going so I can shower before my first class. See you tonight for round two? Of training?”

**_Monday Morning // 12 Days Until the Hub City Classic_ **

For the past few days during their training sessions, Oliver had been all business. Completely focused on pushing both himself and Felicity to their limits without leaving much time or energy for conversation that didn’t pertain to their workouts. It was partially because he was starting to feel the pressure of the rapidly approaching competition, but more so because he didn’t want to give himself a chance to do something he would regret.

“That’s time,” he called on an AMRAP* they had been doing, and heard her drop her weights onto the ground before blowing out a loud gust of air.

*AMRAP = “ **A** s **m** any **r** ounds **a** s **p** ossible” of a set of exercises within a time limit :)

“I’m dead,” she lamented, smoothing back the stray pieces of hair that had fallen free of her ponytail. “Also, how do you keep your hands from getting all messed up?”

He showed her his palms, the callouses that marred them, “You don’t.”

She looked down at her hands to inspect them and, stepping closer to her, he noticed that they were red and raw because her skin hadn’t built up the toughness that his had over the years. 

Despite his intention to avoid doing stuff like this, he cradled her hands in his and ran his thumbs along her palms gently. “I’m sorry that I’ve been so brutal the past couple of days, you’re doing an incredible job keeping up.”

Shaking her head, she gave him a shy smile at his praise. “It’s okay. Sara warned me you could get intense, so I was prepared. I’m pretty tough.” She looked down at their hands, “Just not my hands, I guess.”

He laughed softly and, before he could think through what he was doing, he lifted one of her hands to press a kiss to her sensitive skin. Her eyes fluttered closed and he repeated the action with her other hand.

* * *

The feeling of his soft lips soothing her tender skin was glorious. She couldn’t help but imagine how those kisses would feel on other parts of her body, but she didn’t think her chances of finding out were very good. When they had first started training together, there had been a spark there, at least she thought there had been, but lately it had been all business between them as they practiced workouts that might show up in the competition. Which was fine. He wasn’t being unfriendly, just focused. And that was what she had signed up for.

But then he had to go and be all sensitive and sweet and confuse the heck out of her.

Opening her eyes, she met his gaze for a second before pulling her hands away and backing up a small step.

Something flickered across his face that she couldn’t discern before he tilted his head towards the locker rooms, “I should go. I have a class soon. I’ll see you tonight, and we’ll wrap those hands so this doesn’t happen again.”  

She wasn’t sure if he meant the blistering or the kissing.

* * *

“Boys are the worst,” she declared as she walked into Sara’s room that afternoon.

“Agreed. But feel free to elaborate,” Nyssa remarked from where she was sitting on the floor reading a book.

Sara chuckled and beckoned for her to come join her on her bed.

Sitting down on the edge, she pouted, “Oliver is being so weird.” She twisted to face her, “Also, is it wrong to want him to kiss me?”

“No. He’s an amazing kisser.” Nyssa tossed Sara a look and she added, “Obviously not as amazing as you though babe.”

Felicity frowned, “Wait… you and Oliver…”

“Freshman year, we were a thing, briefly. Sort of. It was actually never anything official, stuff just sort of happened a few times,” Sara explained. “He’s been one of my best friends for about as long as I can remember, and we make a good team, but probably not the best couple. He’s never really been a relationship kind of guy.”

“Oh.” Her shoulders slumped and she was surprised to feel a pang of disappointment.

“But that doesn’t mean that he couldn’t be,” Sara added hastily. “Do you… do you like him, like that?

She sighed, “I don’t know. I mean, I’m obviously attracted to him, who wouldn’t be?” Nyssa didn’t even bother looking up from her book when she raised her hand in answer to her rhetorical question. “Okay, well, yeah. But anyway, to me he’s gorgeous, and I enjoy training with him, I’m just not sure if there’s anything else there. And I especially have no idea how he feels, because he’s on this constant cycle of hot and cold.”

“I can do a little investigating for you…” Sara offered.

“No.” She tapped her cast, her eyes hesitating for a second on Oliver’s name in big letters across her shin. “Absolutely not. I don’t want him having even an inkling that I was having this sort of conversation with you. We’ve got less than two weeks left until the competition and I want to focus on doing my part to getting us on that podium without any drama. I don’t care if he doesn’t have feelings for me.”

A lie, but one she was forcing herself to believe.

**_Friday Night // 8 Days Until the Hub City Classic_ **

“Sooo…” She looked out at the deluge of rain pounding the pavement, the sound of rumbling thunder resonating loudly in her ears. “I think I’m going to cash in on that ride.”

They ran the short distance out to where Oliver’s car was parked, getting completely soaked in the process.

She felt bad that she was dripping all over the nice leather interior of his Porsche but he didn’t look the slightest bit bothered as he navigated slowly and carefully through the storm back to her dorm. When they arrived, the rain had gotten impossibly more torrential and she was worried about him driving in it, even just the short distance to his residence hall.

“Why don’t you come inside and wait out the storm?” she suggested, sinking her teeth into her bottom lip as she anticipated his response. They hadn’t spent any time together outside of the gym and she wasn’t sure how he would feel about her invitation.

After a moment of silence, he asked, “Will your roommate mind?”

“Uhhh… I don’t exactly have a roommate. It’s possible that I might have hacked into the system and made it look like the room was full so that I could have it to myself.”

He whistled. “Impressive.”

“Oh, it wasn’t hard. Their system here is embarrassing.”

A bolt of lightning lit up the sky and she could see the amused look on his face. “Alright. I’ll come in until this passes.”

They left a trail of water as they made their way upstairs to her door. She hoped he couldn’t hear her heart hammering in her chest as she slid her key into the lock and pushed it open. Walking in ahead of him, she did a quick scan of the place and was relieved that she didn’t see anything embarrassing sitting out like—

She inconspicuously as possible grabbed a bra that was hanging over her desk chair and tossed it in her laundry basket as she passed by.

“Do you umm… do you want to take a shower or…?” she fiddled with the sleeves of her sweatshirt and tried to avoid blushing madly at the sight of him standing a mere foot away from her bed.

“Yeah. That would be nice. Thanks.” He lifted up his gym bag that he had brought in with him. “I have some dry clothes so…”

“Great. Umm…There’s an extra towel on the shelf so…” She gestured at the door of the bathroom adjoined to her room. “You do that.”

When he had shut the door behind him she cringed and mouthed, _“You do that?”_

Peering out the window, she hoped the rain would stop before she made a complete idiot out of herself.

* * *

Standing under the stream of cold water, he gritted his teeth as the droplets felt like needles pricking his skin.

What had he been thinking, coming up to her room like this?

She was just trying to look out for his safety, but his body was insistent on acting like she had other intentions. It was going to take every drop of icy water in the building to keep him from doing something incredibly impulsive when he stepped out of that bathroom.

He had admittedly been attracted to her from the moment he had first laid eyes on her that night in the gym, but over the course of their two-ish weeks of training together, he had only found himself wanting her more as he got to know her better. Got to know the girl with the quips, the fiery, all-in attitude, the nerdy references that he almost never understood but would google afterwards, the laugh that made it impossible for him not to smile.

This wasn’t supposed to happen. She was just supposed to be his partner, a way to still compete with Sara out of commission. But apparently, his attempts to stay focused on their training and not let himself get attached to her had been unsuccessful.

Turning off the water, he took a deep breath and stepped out of the shower to dry off and change into the only slightly damp sweatpants and t-shirt he had in his bag.

* * *

While Oliver was in the shower, Felicity paced across her room in her sports bra and underwear, wringing her hands and trying not to hyperventilate. The longer he was in there, the more her imagination had time to wander, and now she was regretting her decision to not let Sara investigate whether Oliver had feelings for her because—

The bathroom door swung open and Oliver stepped out, his eyes widening in surprise to see her in her state of undress.

“Ack. Sorry. I didn’t want to hang out in my wet clothes any longer.” Grabbing her pajamas, she avoided looking him in the eye as she awkwardly skirted past him into the bathroom and shut the door.

When she had finished showering and had changed into her pajamas, she no longer heard the sound of the rain pounding on the roof and she wondered if Oliver would still be in her room when she opened the door. A part of her was hoping he would and, another part of her was hoping he wouldn’t.

She wasn’t disappointed when she stepped out of the bathroom and found him sitting on the floor, leaning against her bed and looking at his phone, so she figured she wanted him there more than she did not.  

When he noticed her presence, he looked up and gave her a warm smile that she felt from the top of her head to the tips of her toes, “Hey. The storm stopped.”

“Yeah.”

“So… I should probably leave.”

The way he said it made her think he was asking for permission to not leave. Or maybe she was just imagining it because _she_ didn’t want him to leave.

There were a million reasons why it would be better for her to wait until after the competition to do this, the biggest one being that their training sessions were going to be horribly awkward if this didn’t go the way she envisioned, but she couldn’t stop herself from walking over to him and settling down onto his lap.  

Smoothing her hands over his chest, she replied softly, “Or you could stay.”

She felt his chest tighten under her fingers as he drew a quick breath. “Felicity… I don’t think—” Her heart sank and she started to stand up but he pulled her back down. “I don’t think you know how much I wanted you to say that.”

Rolling her hips lazily against him, she bit her lip. “I think I have some idea.”

He groaned. “I endured a freezing cold shower only to walk out on you half naked.”

“I apologized,” she replied sweetly, continuing to grind on him as she trailed her fingers down his chest to tug at the hem on his shirt. In the back of her mind she remembered Sara telling her that they had messed around in the past, and she wondered if that was all this was going to be for him. A little cardio and stress relief as they neared the competition date.

She tried to tell herself that she would be okay with that, but deep down she knew she wasn’t. Despite being uncertain the other day when Sara had asked her, she had since come to the realization that she liked him, a lot. What if he didn’t feel the same and had no intention of seeing her again after the competition?

He must have noticed that she was no longer present in the moment because he tipped her chin up to get her attention and look her in the eyes.

“Talk to me Felicity.”

“I don’t think I can do this.”

Disappointment flickered in his eyes, but he nodded, “Okay.”

“I mean, I know I started it but I—I just—“

“Hey.” He shifted his hand to caress her cheek. “You don’t owe me anything. I can leave right now if that’s what you want.”

“No. No, I don’t want that.” She chewed on the inside of her lip for a second while she contemplated what she should say. “I guess I want to know what you want.” Gesturing between them, she added, “What this is for you.”

* * *

_“I want to know what you want.”_

Had she asked him that a week ago, he would have told her that what he wanted was to win the Hub City Classic because that had been the foremost thing in his mind. However, a week ago, she wasn’t straddling his lap. All this time he had been trying to be careful with his actions— he hadn’t expected her to make a move on him.

He should tell her that he was a train wreck when it came to relationships, that she deserved someone better than him.

But she had asked him what he wanted, and what he wanted was her.

“The hardest part about training for this competition has been the hours in between workouts that I don’t get to spend with you.”

She gave him a shy smile even as her eyes sparkled with amusement. “That’s kind of cheesy, and doesn’t exactly answer my question.”

“Yeah, but it’s true.” He tucked some of her damp curls back behind her ear. “So as for what I want…. Well, right at this moment, I want to rock your world, if you’ll let me. But I don’t want you think that’s all this is about for me, because I want so much more than that with you.”

“Sara said you’re not really a relationship person,” she whispered, fiddling with the collar of his t-shirt, her fingers dipping inside to touch his skin.  

“Maybe because I just hadn’t found the right person yet.” He winced, “No offense to her. Don’t tell her I said that. I love her.”

But in a way that was different from what he felt for the girl in front of him.

She laughed and made the motion of zipping her lips, “I won’t say a thing.”

Trailing his hands up and down her arms, he confessed a little self-deprecatingly, “I would have told you how I felt sooner, but I’ve been afraid I would just mess this up. I don’t know how to be a good boyfriend.”

“Yes, you do.” She cradled his face in her hands, and he resisted the urge to clothes his eyes at her soft touch because he wanted to look into her eyes as she spoke. “Every day in the gym you’re supportive and caring, even when you’re pushing me really hard. You believe in me and you’re helping me to achieve the things you know I’m capable of even when I’m doubting myself. _You’re already a good partner_.” A mischievous smile turned up the corners of her mouth. “But if you’re going to be my _boyfriend_ , I’m going to need a little something else from you.”   

“Wha—“

She pressed her lips against his and he instantly reciprocated with enthusiasm, sliding his hands up her back and into her hair and deepening the kiss to taste her sweet mouth. Trailing kisses along his jawline and cheeks she whispered in his ear, “I believe there was an offer to rock my world.”

He grinned and wrapped his arms around her tightly to bring her along with him when he stood up from the floor.

“You’re giving me whole new reasons to appreciate your strength,” she muttered as he laid her down on her bed, taking his shirt off and discarding it on the floor, before coming to hover over her and help her remove her shirt. His mouth went dry at the realization that she hadn’t been wearing anything underneath it and his eyes roamed across her chest appreciatively. There were small bruises along her collarbones from hitting them with the barbells they had been lifting and he leaned down to cover them in open mouthed kisses before moving lower, giving attention to her breasts and her toned stomach. She was moaning softly at his ministrations, but this time she didn’t shy away from the effect he had on her and he smiled against her skin. His tongue traced the shallow grooves of her abs that had become more defined since she had started training with him and then he hooked his fingers into the waistbands of her pajama pants and underwear to tug them both down in one motion.

Now completely bared to him, he breathed out a _“wow”_ as he took her in that made her bite her bottom lip to try and subdue a shy smile. He had never thought he would get to act upon any of his desires, the fantasies that had unwittingly flitted through his mind, and he couldn’t decide what he wanted to do for her first.

So, he asked. “What do you want me to do?”

“Uhh…” Her chest rose and fell heavily and she spread her legs wider for him. “I really don’t think I’m going to complain about anything you do.”

Licking his lips, he made up his mind and settled himself in between her legs. He pressed kisses and nibbled lightly at the sensitive skin along her inner thighs, using one hand to keep her hips down on the mattress while the other lifted one of her legs over his shoulder. Her breath stuttered when his mouth found her wet arousal at the apex of her thighs and his tongue began to tease her with light strokes that grew more insistent when she threaded her fingers through his hair to hold him in place.

“Oh. Oliver.” She panted and he knew he was never going to get the sound of her voice as he brought her pleasure out of his head. And he never wanted to. “Yessssss,” she hissed, tightening her grip on him as he redoubled his efforts, her heel digging into his back.

It didn’t take much more for him to have her crying out his name, her legs shaking as he eased her through her orgasm.

“World sufficiently rocked,” she muttered when she finally slumped down against the mattress again, a content smile on her face, and he grinned as he wiped his chin.

“Oh, but I’m just getting started,” he assured her before leaning down to meet her mouth for a hungry kiss.  

* * *

"Okay. Last night definitely counted as cardio,” she commented as her fingers traced over his abs, her nails scratching lightly at the planes of hard muscle. Along with being the most satisfying, it was definitely the most athletic sexual encounter she had ever had. She wasn’t sure how much of her soreness was from what had taken place at the gym or in her bed.

“I think that extra workout is really going to give us an edge on the competition,” he added teasingly as he rubbed her back. 

“Hey, whatever it takes. I told you, I’m in it to win it.”

“Even if we don’t take home the trophy, I’ll be happy because this competition brought me you.”

She pressed a kiss to his heart. “Aww that’s sweet. But wait, you never said anything about a trophy before. If I would have known that there was such a prestigious prize at stake, I probably would have worked twice as hard.”  

She felt his chest move as he chuckled and didn’t notice the sound of approaching footsteps.

“Felicity? Do you want to go to breakfast with Nyssa and I—” Sara swung open the door and she hastily pulled the sheets up to her chin. A delighted expression appeared on Sara’s face when she noticed that Felicity wasn’t alone in her bed. “Ha!” Poking her head back out into the hall, they heard her call. “You owe me twenty bucks babe. I told you they wouldn’t last until the weekend of the competition, and I was right!” Sara returned her attention to the room and Felicity could feel her face turning bright red. “I’m going to say that’s a _‘no’_ for breakfast. Sorry to interrupt. I’ll be on my way now. See you later. Mazel Tov.”

“I really need to get better at remembering to lock that door at night,” Felicity grumbled before burying her face in Oliver’s shoulder.

**_Saturday Morning // Competition Day_ **

Oliver rested his hands on her shoulders and massaged them lightly, “You ready for this?”

She sighed, “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Spinning her around, he rested his forehead against hers, “Hey. No pressure. We go out there and do our best, and if it’s meant to be, we’ll end up on that podium. All I ask is that you give it everything you’ve got. Show ‘em what your made of.”

“I will. You’ll have to drag me off the floor when we’re done.”

He smiled and brushed his nose against hers. “That’s the spirit. We got this.”

They went through the check in process before being ushered with the rest of the competitors into an area of the gym where they would receive the first workout of the day. There was going to be a total of four different workouts in the competition, the fourth being for the top scorers of the day and would help determine who made the podium. There were varying types of scoring systems for the workouts, such as fastest time, most rounds completed, etc. As the coordinators laid out the details of the first one, he squeezed Felicity’s hand reassuringly. This was stuff they had practiced a million times and he was confident that they would excel at it. Once the briefing was finished, they were sorted by their heats, and the day of competing began.

* * *

“I think I’m going to puke,” she remarked, holding onto Oliver’s arm while her world spun. They had just finished their third workout of the day and she was feeling drained, to say the least. She was giving it everything she had, like she had promised, but she wasn’t sure how much she had left to give. As much as she wanted to get Oliver on that podium, there was a part of her that was hoping they hadn’t qualified for the final workout of the day. Oliver helped her over to a chair and handed her some water and a snack to eat while he kneeled in front of her and ran his hands up and down her calves.

“You’re doing great,” he assured her. “Look around, that last workout was rough on everyone.”

She obliged him and noticed to some relief that she wasn’t the only one looking a little light-headed. “You people are crazy for willingly putting yourself through this.”

He laughed, “Uhh, you’re in that category of _‘you people’_ now too.”

“No way. I only agreed to this because I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. When will Sara’s leg be functioning again, so I can retire?”

“You say that now, but just wait until you see how amazing you feel at the sense of accomplishment when this is all over. You’ll understand why all of us are hooked.”

She gave him a doubtful look, “We’ll see about that.”

After she had finished her water and her snack though, she started to feel better and she found herself on the edge of her seat waiting for the judges to tally the results so they could announce who would be competing in the final workout.

They started to call out names and she clutched Oliver’s forearm and closed her eyes in anticipation.

_Queen and Smoak_

She straightened in her seat excitedly, “We did it! We’re going into the finals!”

Leaning over, she gave him a chaste kiss before hopping up to start warming up for the final workout of the day.

* * *

Sweat dripped down his face and splashed onto the floor as he hoisted the barbell up over his head. Over and over and over. He pumped out reps until his arms were screaming and he had to drop it, hi-fiving Felicity to tag her in before she grabbed her own barbell and the judge counted out her reps, adding them to their total.

Pride swelled in his chest as he watched her with fiery determination firmly set on her face. Finding out they made the final workout had re-energized her, and he was pretty sure she cared more about medaling now than he did. He wasn’t going to let her down after she had given so much all day.

She got them to the end of their overhead presses and she dropped the barbell so they could move into their synchro burpees.

The rest of the workout went by in an adrenaline-fueled blur, and when the judges called time he crumpled to the floor, his muscles having given everything they had, and pulled his similarly exhausted partner against him to feel her breathing as heavily as him. 

“Wow you’re sweaty,” she muttered when she had caught her breath.

“You’re pretty sweaty yourself.”

“Yeah. That was awesome.” She shifted to give him a salty forehead kiss. “I take back everything I said. The endorphins have fully kicked in now and I get it.”

“Told you.”

Biting her lip, she asked, “What do you think of our chances?”

He propped himself up on his protesting forearms and eyed the scoring table. “I don’t think there’s anything more we could’ve done. You crushed that.”

A small smile turned up the corners of her mouth. “I was just taking my lead from you.”

They helped each other up off the ground and made their way over to the holding area to grab water and change into clean, dry shirts while the final scores were tallied up.

While they waited, some competitors that he recognized from other events, came up to him to chat.

“Where’s Sara?” someone asked.

“Fractured fibula.”

“Yikes,” they hissed before turning to Felicity. “Was this your first time competing?”

She squared her shoulders. “Yeah…”

“Wow. You couldn’t even tell.” He clapped Oliver on the shoulder, “Is Starling just swimming with strong, hot blonde chicks? I think I need to transfer.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Felicity rolling her eyes and he let himself be led away from the guy by her.

“You know, I won’t be offended if you want Sara back when she can compete again,” she mentioned softly as they found a wall to sit down on the floor against.

“She’s got a long road of physical therapy ahead of her.” He reached for her hand and drew it up to press a kiss to her knuckles. “I was thinking though, when she’s up for it, that we could get into team competitions. Most of the time it’s two girls and two guys, and I think I have a guy who would be interested.”

 “Oh.” She brightened. “Yeah, that would be fun.”

“Right?”

He didn’t want Sara to feel like she had been replaced permanently, but he didn’t want to give up competing with Felicity either if she wanted to continue. This was a win-win solution, and he had a feeling John would be on board with joining them.

She rested her head against his shoulder as they waited anxiously for the announcement of the final award standings.

Finally, the head organizer stepped up to the mic and the room fell silent.

Third place… wasn’t them.

Second place… wasn’t them.

He braced himself for disappointment. He really didn’t think that they had gotten first, but he had been hoping to at least get on the podium.

“And your 2017 Hub City Classic champions are… Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak!”

She jumped up first as he sat there in a shocked stupor and held out her hands to help him to his feet. They made their way to the podium where their medals were hung around their neck and they climbed up onto the platform before being handed their trophy.

“I can’t believe we did it!” she squealed excitedly and he grinned proudly before pulling her in for a kiss and hoisting their trophy above their heads to the delight of the crowd.  

The trophy, the medals, they were great. But the real reward was in all the hours leading up to this that he had gotten to spend with her. She had pushed him just as much as he had pushed her, and he was so thankful that he had changed his mind about competing with her. They had developed a partnership that he wanted to last far beyond their time in the gym.

* * *

As Oliver kissed her on top of the podium, all she could think of was how much things had changed in the past few weeks. What if she hadn’t changed her mind and said yes to this crazy idea of competing with him? She would have missed out on realizing that she was so much stronger than she thought. Missed out on him. The smile he brought to her face, the way he made her better.

It felt damn good to be standing on top of that podium with a gold medal around her neck, but she would probably forget the exact feeling in a few days. It would fade along with the soreness in her muscles.

But her feelings for the man standing there with her? 

She didn’t see those fading anytime soon. 

**Author's Note:**

> As always, I would love to hear your thoughts!! Leave a comment and/or come find me on twitter and tumblr @mogirl97 :D


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